Poplar Bluff's lone hit turned out to be a nice wedding anniversary gift and all the offense the Mules needed Tuesday.
Calli Gerber's two-out RBI double into the left-field gap lifted Poplar Bluff past Notre Dame 1-0 at Bobby Strenfel Field.
Gerber's parents were celebrating their 36th wedding anniversary in the stands.
"It was for them, you know," Gerber said. "I had to do something."
Shelby Sievers threw a three-hit shutout, striking out five and walking three for the win. The Poplar Bluff senior wiggled out of a first-inning jam after a leadoff single and a pair of walks.
"You get your chances against good pitchers early on and we had that in the first, just couldn't come through and get on the board," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said.
Notre Dame pitcher Haliey Kutz gave up a one-out walk in the first inning and nothing else until the fourth. The freshman lefty struck out seven and induced eight flyouts.
"We know she pitches a lot of riseballs," Gerber said. "(Coach Lisa Boyer) has been stressing to us no riseballs. I got ahead and I was just looking. I was like I'm going to swing at this, I've got one more if I miss it.
"I was just hoping for something good."
With one out, Kutz hit Sievers when the pitch glanced off her helmet. Courtesy runner Camille McCain took a pickoff throw to her helmet diving back into first base then beat the throw to second base on the ensuing scramble for the ball.
After a pop up to the third baseman, Kutz fell behind 3-1 in the count against Gerber who sent the next pitch to the wall in the left-field gap.
"She's probably going to tell you she made a freshman mistake there, 3-1 pitch with a base open," Graviett said. "Kind of grooved it, whether she didn't get the spin on it or purposely threw down there, she'll learn as she goes from that. But you put the pitch in that spot, they still have to do something with it.
"They did their job with it today and got the one they needed."
Gerber moved down to fifth in the lineup after hitting second where she had a team-high six sacrifices. The senior is now hitting .412 with nine RBIs after her fifth double.
Poplar Bluff (10-4) also didn't commit an error over seven innings for just the second time this season.
"It was a good time to do that too," Gerber said.
Notre Dame (10-2) opened the game with a single by Macy Landeros but Gerber threw her out trying to steal second before Connor Overfield drew a walk. A groundout and a walk by Alex Lovell put runners at the corners but Sievers got a flyout to left field.
Poplar Bluff left fielder Abby Gregory was busy with four fly balls her way, perhaps none bigger than a diving catch in the gap for the second out in the fourth.
"Abby made a couple of great plays there," Boyer said.
Grazie Friga had a one-out double in the second but Sievers ended the inning with consecutive strikeouts. After retiring nine straight, Sievers walked Abba Estes with one out in the fifth but got a pair of flyouts. Alex Lovell's two-out single in the sixth was Notre Dame's only other base runner.
Poplar Bluff had just one other base runner when Audrey Lack drew a one-out walk in the first inning. The freshman second baseman was left stranded after stealing second.
"We had a ton of strikeouts and a ton of pop ups," Boyer said. "We weren't offensively really doing a great job today but Shelby did her job today keeping the ball down."
Sievers (4-3) picked up her first complete-game shutout of the season.
The Mules were the last team to shutout the Bulldogs, 11-0 last fall at Notre Dame, ending a string of 32 straight games.
"She pitched a really good game," Boyer said. "That's probably one of the best, if not the best games I've seen her pitch."
Notre Dame won the junior varsity game 6-4.